yesterday was one of those perfect days where i kinda just rolled out of bed and threw on something comfortable to go for a drive up north to hang out in point reyes with brendan. we were partially motivated by a request from my mom to go collect some kelp for an art project. unfortunately, we didn’t bring anything back for her on this particular trip because we decided to go to a beach that didn’t have many sea plants washed ashore. in fact, the beach was practically deserted in general, probably because it’s not the type of place where people go to lay out and get a tan or go swimming. point reyes is a cape located 30 miles north of san francisco. since the point reaches out so far into the ocean, it’s almost always foggy, and several degrees colder than the surrounding area. with all of the fair weather we’ve been having in the bay area, you’d think we would try to go somewhere sunny, but the beauty of point reyes always brings us back for day trips, hikes, bike rides, and camping trips.

on this particular day, we took the short hike to kehoe beach and laid out on the sand enjoying turkey and swiss on a baguette, and mapping out a short story that we’re writing together. well, brendan is doing most of the writing, but i helped him out with character development and plot! i’m really excited about this latest project and hope we’ll be able to find a suitable place to get it published in a lit mag or journal or something (if you have any tips or hints, let me know)! then we napped a bit before hiking back and exploring an historic dairy ranch in the area nearby. and you’ll have to excuse me, because we had so much taking pictures that this post is going to be packed full!

and since this is still a bit of an outfit post…
jacket: gap belted utility jacket
sweater: american apparel sailor strip pullover
jeans: j brand 210 the oslo
shoes: vintage anne klein flats from pineapple mint
sunglasses: karen walker

today i’m taking out the calivintage dress for another spin! i thought it would be the perfect dress for a simple outfit where i really wanted just a few pieces to do all the talking. see, yesterday i got my jessica simpson dany platforms in the mail! for those of you who aren’t familiar with them, they’re a knock off of the charles anastase platforms from spring 2009 (i’m still slightly obsessed with that collection!), only without the insane price tag. they came out last year some time and quickly sold out before people started listing them on ebay for like $200 and up. at which point, i regretted that i didn’t purchase them when i first saw them. so when they were re-released this month, i went ahead and indulged myself. i’ve been wanting a suuuper tall pair of heels for a long while now and these are so fun to wear! and in all honesty, they’re not hard to walk in and are actually one of the more comfortable pairs of heels i own. because of the huge platform in front, they aren’t steep at all. my only concern is that if i were to trip on something, i would probably take a nasty spill. fortunately for me, i’m not very accident prone, so i’ll gladly take the marginal risk.

anyway, knock-offs seem to always be a hot topic within the fashion industry. i remember a while back leproust vintage wrote a post asking her readers for their thoughts on the subject. it reminded me of a video i saw by johanna blakley, lessons from fashion’s free culture. while i don’t agree with everything she has to say, she did make an interesting point that the people who are buying knockoffs aren’t taking any business away from the designers who make the high end pieces because they simply can’t afford those insane price tags. then, for an almost perfect coincidence, this morning there was a post on threadbared about some of the social and cultural judgments made against women who buy cheap clothes. certainly something to think about. and there is certainly much more to the equation that i’m not even getting into. in the meantime, i am having oh so much fun prancing around in my new shoes!

dress: the modcloth calivintage dress
shoes: jessica simpson dany platforms
sunglasses: karen walker
clutch: thrifted vintage woven straw clutch

as promised, today i am sharing a few pictures from my weekend at the russian river. as usual, i brought my camera with high hopes of getting excellent coverage of the weekend and sort of imagined myself documenting things meticulously right down to each meal we ate. but unfortunately, i hardly remembered to pick up the camera! the one time that i did bring my camera was on a canoe trip down the russian river, which in hindsight, was probably the least opportune time to bring it. i’m sure you can imagine my angst at the idea of capsizing and losing it, or my utter horror when i discovered that the people on the shores make a pasttime of shooting passers by in canoes with giant water cannons. it was definitely nice considering the sweltering heat, but after a certain point, i had to wrap my camera in a towel and bury it in a moderately water proof bag for the duration. live and learn!

anyway, we spent our time staying at a cabin in forestville and enjoyed a long and leisurely canoe trip down the russian river. we were all so exhausted from all of the rowing and heat of the sun that we barely had enough energy for an evening bbq! the next day we went on an expedition to one of my favorite bakeries, wild flour, for delicious fougasse, and then did some wandering around sebastopol, guerneville, and healdsburg before finishing up the evening watching the local fireworks show. all in all, it was a nice, relaxing weekend.

view of the front of the canoe.

view of the back of the canoe.

i think cheap beer is mandatory on the river.

almost every single shore was filled with people.

the bus ride back. heat exhaustion!

guerneville.

healdsburg.

how quickly the month of june has passed right by… i can’t believe i’m almost done with my month of guest editing and styling at the live.love.LOFT. blog. tomorrow will be my last official post, and with it, will come a little surprise for you all! but first, i want to share with you one of the projects that i worked on with LOFT. it was a challenge to style up one piece four different ways. i’ve actually never done a post like this before, but i certainly love to wear my favorite pieces over and over, so i decided to try my hand at styling up the pleated sleeve ruffle neck blouse. it is one my favorite LOFT pieces this month, and i actually already styled it up in a teddy girl inspired look seen here. i’d worn it so much that i knew i could think up four more looks for all different occasions. in fact, i had so much fun styling up these outfits, that i think i might have to make this a more regular feature on my blog! so without further adieu, here’s what i came up with:

top: pleated sleeve ruffle neck blouse courtesy of LOFT
jumper: puddle splashing jumper from modcloth
shoes: kork-ease wedges
bag: caning woven leather clutch courtesy of LOFT

top: pleated sleeve ruffle neck blouse courtesy of LOFT
bottoms: high rise trousers from urban outfitters
shoes: nine west suede platforms

top: pleated sleeve ruffle neck blouse courtesy of LOFT
jacket: gap belted utility jacket
jeans: j brand 210 the oslo
sandals: volcom knock on wood sandals
sunglasses: ray-ban round wayfarers

top: pleated sleeve ruffle neck blouse courtesy of LOFT
dress: h&m strapless cocktail dress
shoes: wedge sandals courtesy of LOFT

and just a quick note to remind you to check out my guest posts at live.love.LOFT. for the month of june!

nope! this is not my sunday outfit, but rather, what i wore on monday morning. that’s the sun rising up behind me at approximately 7am. and as you can see, i got a trim to my pixie cut over the weekend! i had one of those endless sundays where i woke up and enjoyed a most delicious homemade breakfast of eggs and spinach on toast, complete with a few mimosas. then i made my way to san francisco to visit shannon to get my hairs trimmed before he leaves for vacation. of course, this turned into a hang out session at dolores park and an eventual stroll to the bar with friends once the sun went down. which of course, turned into a late night visit to the taqueria for an appropriately giant burrito. so please excuse me if i’m still recovering from my sunday of excess. phew!

top: embroidered bib pullover courtesy of LOFT
jumper: puddle splashing jumper courtesy of modcloth
shoes: vintage salvatore ferragamo bow flats

after recently celebrating father’s day over the weekend and mother’s day last month, i decided that perhaps it was time to do another mi familia post today. i’ve done a few installations in the past including images of my mother’s side of the family from as long ago as the 1910’s seen here, here, and here. i was really delighted by the positive reception i received from them, particularly because i recognized that there isn’t a lot of representation of people of color in historical images of the united states unless it’s in the context of migrant farm workers or the civil rights movement. we don’t often get to see the more typical images like family portraits or snap shots at the park or on the beach. so i’m glad to be able to contribute my little collection to the public archive by posting them on my blog occasionally.and while we’re on the subject, i want to let you know that threadbared is calling for submissions for images of women of color in fashionable looks! they’re also looking for garments and accessories, newspaper articles, or other ephemera relating to women of color for a special fashion exhibition. click through for details on how to submit!i definitely intend to continue sharing more vintage images of my family on my blog as i unearth them, but in honor of my parents, today i thought it would be fitting to show you a few more recent images of my family. above from left: my mom, my dad, my dad’s sister/my godmother, and my mom’s brother/my nino. oh yes, and the little baby is me back in 1983, a few months after i was born. hehe, my mom is especially tiny at 4’11”. note the super tall wedges.

with my older sister, erica. i would just like to note that she is now 5’9″. apparently she got tall of the tall genes…

from left: erica (my older sister), devin (my younger brother), and me!

that’s right, folks! i’m running with a theme here. remember when i said i wanted to go a bit more edwardian with my teddy girl look? like yesterday? well, after posting those inspiration pictures today, i went to my closet and managed to find just what i needed was already hanging on the racks. the only thing is that this version is a bit more grown up and ladylike, so it was harder for me to try and look like a tough kid while wearing these stiletto heels! but i actually really like the effect. it suddenly makes me miss the days when i had really long hair, so i could twist my hair into some sort of fancy edwardian up-do.

anyway, i thought it was kinda silly that while taking style tips from days gone by, i’m actually quite on trend with the scalloped edge of my blazer and my little straw hat. though i suppose that’s half of the fun in dressing vintage and vintage-inspired. even trends from as far back as a hundred years can still make their way back into our modern wardrobes.

jacket: vintage scalloped sassoon jacket from pretty penny
blouse: pleated sleeve ruffle neck blouse courtesy of loft
jeans: j brand 210 the oslo in indigo
shoes: nine west suede platforms
bag: caning woven leather clutch courtesy of loft
hat: vintage straw boater hat

and just a quick note to remind you that i’ll be guest editing at live.love.LOFT. for the month of june!

since i’ve been having so much fun tying my hair up in vintage scarves with my little pompadour poof these past couple of days, i starting thinking of different ways to play it up. instead of just being all rosy-the-riveter with it (which is awesome, don’t get me wrong), today i decided to take some inspiration from the teddy girls of london in the 1950s. it’s just a touch of inspiration here since i’m definitely rocking a much more modern and refined version, so you can probably expect to see me trying this again with a bit more of a rough edge and edwardian twist. (i think i need some cameos, perhaps.) anyway, i went with my chambray and skinny jeans rolled up at the cuffs since the teddy girls were predominantly working class, and i know you’ve heard me mention my recent taste for everything work wear inspired. the blazer and heels dress it up a bit, and the scarf completes the look.

but i suppose more than anything, the idea of these rough and tumble kids on the streets of london in the 50s had me feeling a bit like a delinquent walking around the neighborhood for my photo shoot today. it was kinda fun to move out of cute territory and into something a bit more tough than my typical looks.

jacket: boyfriend blazer courtesy of LOFT
shirt: j.crew selvedge chambray shirt
jeans: j brand 910 the oslo jeans in indigo
shoes: wedge sandals courtesy of LOFT
scarf: vintage silk scarf

i may have already mentioned several times that the temperatures reached up over 90 degrees here in the bay area this weekend. you might know this because i mentioned it on twitter, tumblr, and in my last blog post. even though i’m a native to the southern california desert, it appears as though the last 10 years of living in northern california have gotten me pretty well acclimated to the cooler temperatures. after all that wishing for hotter weather, i have to admit i wasn’t quite prepared for the sweltering heat. even with my super short hair, i couldn’t stand the feeling of it touching the back of my neck and forehead, so i improvised with this retro ‘do and pulled it all back with a vintage scarf. i felt so perfectly work wear inspired with my head wrap that it only felt fitting to pair it with a bit of chambray.

getting dressed this weekend was definitely more about keeping cool than anything else. living in places where the weather gets hot, it’s pretty much essential to ditch the layers and go for something really cool and simple. times like this you can really only reach for a dress and add a bit of personality with a few vintage accessories.

dress: chambray wrap dress courtesy of LOFT
shoes: swedish hasbeens super high peep toe clogs in mustard
bag: caning woven leather clutch courtesy of LOFT
sunglasses: lum vintage sunglasses
scarf: thrifted vintage silk scarf

and just a quick note to remind you that i’ll be guest editing at live.love.LOFT. for the month of june!